I snagged this tea while at Lupicia. Was nice as they had samples and it was easy to sniff each tea before buying.
DRY: Smells very roasted and sweet. The tea is in small chunks with lumps of dried strawberries. I actually was intending to get the Strawberry Orzo, but this one smelled better as it had caramel and strawberry scent!
The packaging is a “limited package” which turned out to be a bag around their typical package. Kinda wasteful and I rather not of had the extra bag around it, as I’m just gonna lose or toss it. The package also did not have english steeping instructions, so I had to look those up.
STEEPED: WHOA, this looks like coffee! Pitch black with a hint of brown. Smells dark roasted and rich.
FYI, this was a PITA to get out of my Steeper – the fine chunks of this tea clogged up the filter, pouring the tea very slowly. Next time, I’d go for a tea bag or steep in a tea pot with filter. Probably want a good filter though.
Upon closer inspection, small bits got through the Steeper filter, but one can only see it at the dregs.
TASTE: AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! UUGGGG! YUCKYUCK! Bitter, strong roasted, malty barley flavor. Not actual coffee flavor, but this tea is on the same level of strong, roasted bitter flavor. Bit of sweetness at the end like honey and caramel. Aftertaste of coffee and strawberry.
With rock sugar: same bitter taste, but sweeter. Pour out!!! Maybe I went too heavy on the tea?
Doctored heavy with milk and honey: becomes a weird grey brown colour instead of a typical light brown coffee colour. Okay – this is good. Or am I saying that because this is drinkable? Hmmmm. It’s creamy, with a berry taste. Bit of roasted caramel and chocolate essence. Actually pretty good caramel flavor. Okay – this is good!
COMMENTS: WARNING! IF YOU HATE COFFEE RUN FROM THIS TEA or be willing to have something only as lattes or doctored with milk and sweetener!
Straight up, this is awful stuff, says this tea drinker. Seriously. I’ve utterly disliked only a few teas (Adagio’s “Toasted Sesame” of bitter death and DavidsTea’s “All the Raj” of vinegar) and this would be up there. I’d say like a 35 or 45 rating.
With milk and honey, actually pretty good. I’d have it again and finish the bag. I’d put that at a 80 or 85. I’m just gonna put the tea rating in the middle.
I’d love to show this tea to my coffee drinking friends. Actually, this might the tea they are looking for. No caffeine, tastes good (I’d drink this over coffee), interesting and delicious blend of flavors. This has got to be the closet coffee tea experience I’ve had.
